Simplifying… me

Five years ago, on the 19th of December, Jasper was born.
We were reminiscing about Jasper’s arrival with our older kids the other day. They each remember, in great detail, the moment the call from the hospital finally came. They were in the kitchen making gingerbread houses when my mother-in-law entered from the other room – [...]

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When I consider Christmas – when I think about all of the traditions, decorations and planning that goes into this highly anticipated day – I realize that deep at the heart of it all is faith. The kind of faith that believes a child came, a Savior died and resurrected, and a King is returning [...]

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“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:23
Hold on.
When I think of what it takes to hold on – to endure, to press on, to persevere – the word tenacious comes to mind.
Tenacity is defined by Merriam-Webster as: the quality or fact of being able to [...]

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“The Lord blesses his people with peace.” Psalm 29:11
Last month I wrote about endurance: staying in the race even when our bodies feel like they are going to give way and give out. Running all the way to the end…to the joy…fixing our eyes on Jesus…and crossing the glorious finish line at the end.
We are [...]

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My natural instinct is to boast about my strengths. Show you the best of me. Be strong. Be independent. Impressive. Controlled.
But…there are days when my weaknesses get the best of me: insecurities resurface and create fear, a sleepless night with a sick child leaves me weary for the day, challenges before me look bigger than [...]

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“Where he leads me, I will follow.” – E.W. Blandly
Only a few weeks ago, messages from the American Embassy had become a regular and consistent presence in my inbox. Updates from the Malawi government were an ongoing alert in every social networking group I am a part of, and most of those messages appeared to [...]

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“In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.” [...]

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“Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his dwelling place.” I Chronicles 16:27
Transition is like watching the tide make its way in and out along the smooth sands of the ocean shore.
One minute all is calm. All is peaceful. The seas are friendly, relaxing, and smooth. There are no worries. The [...]

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It’s rainy season in Malawi. As I sit here, looking out at the quiet morning showers as they wash the lush, thick grasses, heavy hanging trees, and cactus plants in their soft dew-like downfall – nature enclosing me as though I were snuggled up safely in a canopy of green – I find my inner [...]

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When I was a little girl, I remember being at a friend’s house playing on their big tree swing. Her dad would lift us up, up, up in the air, and we would swing so high that I really thought I could touch the clouds. It was exhilarating. I loved every minute of it, and [...]

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